Kate Winslet

Most of the Golden Globe stories you read today are going to be dominated by the movie selections. But here we’re homing in on the television selections, which had their usual mix of good (“Homeland” and “American Horror Story” get recognized), the bad (I’m sorry, but “Boss” is not one of the five best dramas on TV) and the ugly (“Californication”? “Hung”?).

We typically slam the Globes for their inexplicable picks, but they’re often ahead of Emmy when it comes to recognizing fresh shows and stars (behold the love for “New Girl” and “Enlightened”). On the other hand, we hate the way supporting performers are all lumped together. Maggie Smith (“Downton Abbey”) vs. Sofia Vergara (“Modern Family”)? Ridiculous.

Here’s the rundown of categories:

Best Drama Series
AMERICAN HORROR STORY
BOARDWALK EMPIRE
BOSS
GAME OF THRONES
HOMELAND

Charlie Sheen surprises Jimmy Kimmel and his audience with a big smooch for the late night talk show host.

Also featured today: Chris Brown doesn’t look happy being interviewed on “Good Morning America;” Monica Bellucci is still the most beautiful woman on the planet; and Guy Pearce is the luckiest man alive. What man doesn’t want Kate Winslet and Evan Rachel Wood on their arms at a film premiere.

If “Revolutionary Road” was not the bleakest movie of 2008, I’m glad I missed what was.

Based on a novel by Richard Yates, the well-crafted mass of misery is most notable for Kate Winslet’s Oscar-quality performance — she won for “The Reader” but she’s better here — and her reuniting with Leonardo DiCaprio for the first time since they were flailing in the freezing waters off the Titanic.

Winslet plays a suffocating mid-’50s suburban housewife teetering on the edge of despair as her hopes and dreams — of living abroad — keep getting crushed, by monotony and by her husband’s (DiCaprio) fickleness.

DiCaprio complements Winslet’s complex portrayal, revealing shadings of a once-upbeat and cocky young man who, over the years, becomes successful at a job he hates — and gets caught up in the misogynistic conformity of the period.

The stars meld well, shifting easily from a sexy, optimistic jitterbug to a pas de deux of pain and anxiety.

Directed by Sam Mendes (Winslet’s husband), the film conveys a sharp taste of the ’50s through its look and attitudes.

The acting’s top-notch. And if you’re in the mood for a quality take on a crumbling marriage, I won’t try to stop you from checking it out.

That’s the case with “Defiance,” a powerful picture about a cluster of Jews fighting back against the Nazis.

The first time I saw it I was moved, but felt director Edward Zwick’s storytelling was awkward and uneven. This time it played smoother and was more engaging.

Zwick (“Glory,” new on Blu-ray, and “Blood Diamond”) doesn’t vary his tone much — it’s intense from the get-go — but he still winds up with an inspirational saga, all the more so because it’s based on a true story.

“Defiance” follows the four Bielski brothers after their parents are killed in a village in what was then the Soviet Republic of Belorussia.

Escaping the Germans’ campaign of genocide in 1941, the brothers hide in the surrounding woods, where they are soon joined by other Jewish refugees from the country and from cities.

Designated leaders, the oldest siblings — rugged, charismatic Tuvia (Daniel “James Bond” Craig) and skilled, combative Zus (Liev Schreiber) — organize a camouflaged camp from which they and others strike back at the Nazis and their collaborators.

Most of the drama stems from clashes between the strong-willed older brothers as well as among members of the camp and from the occasional battles.

A moving coda shows images of the real characters and reveals their fates after the war. The Bielskis saved 1,200 Jews and their descendants reportedly number 19,000.

Extras: A meaty package includes filmmaker’s commentary, interviews with the Bielskis’ descendants, making-of doc, photos of survivors; more on Blu-ray.

“Fox and the Child”: Wild fox bonds with girl, 10, and has adventures; Kate Winslet narrates.

“He’s Just Not That Into You”: Interconnected male and female twenty- and thirtysomethings try to interpret behaviors of the opposite sex. Fat chance.

The impressive cast includes Drew Barrymore, Jennifer Aniston, Jennifer Connelly and Ben Affleck; also on Blu-ray.

“Labou”: Three kids search for a pirate’s ghost and his treasure in the Louisiana bayou and find the title critter.

“New York Yankees: Perfect Games and No-Hitters”: Includes Don Larsen’s 1956 World Series Perfect Game and Jim Abbott, the pitcher with one hand, tossing a no-hitter in 1993; with many pitcher interviews and features.

“Silent Venom”: Giant mutant snake forces island inhabitants to evacuate via an old submarine which undergoes an attack by a Chinese vessel and, on board, by more mutant snakes; with Luke Perry, though heaven knows why.

“Une Femme Mariee” (“A Married Woman”): Director Jean-Luc Godard examines modern life via this 1964 drama about a day in the life of a woman (Macha Meril) who discovers she’s pregnant but doesn’t know if the father is her controlling husband or her lover, who treats her as a sex object.

It culminated a wondrous journey for “Slumdog,” a low-budget, feel-good story about a poor teen who rises to fame on India’s version of the game show “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?”

“We had no stars. We had no power or muscle. … But we had a script that inspired mad love in everyone who read it,” said “Slumdog” producer Christian Colson during a revamped, if not entirely enthralling Oscar telecast smoothly guided by first-time host Hugh Jackman.

There’s no accounting for taste, which is why the year’s-best lists veer all over the place, and some crit picks leave us wondering if the reviewer was sipping from a flask at the screening.

(That doesn’t happen with the Bay Area contingent but I can’t speak for other parts of the country, where one reviewer was recently outed for recommending films based on their trailers. For shame.)

Which brings us back to the present. I haven’t seen all of the 2008 releases. Frankly, I don’t know if anyone has, except perhaps a handful who fit the criteria of single, socially challenged, obsessed, and unaware there was an election last year.

But like everyone else in the universe, I have my likes and dislikes, my choices for best and worst. (The latter starts and stops with with “Speed ‘what were they thinking?’ Racer.”)

If this were purely a remembrance of personal favorites it would include “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” and “Forgetting Sarah Marshall.” They were great fun but, in critic-speak, “awkward” in too many spots to qualify as best-ofs.

My other favorites – “Wall-E,” “Milk,” “Tell No One,” “Vicky Christina Barcelona,” “The Visitor,” “Slumdog Millionaire,” “Frost/Nixon” and “The Dark Knight” – were also flawed here and there, but not enough to bump them for the list.

To which I’ll add “Iron Man” and, in a tie for 10th, “The Wrestler” and “Revolutionary Road” – because 10 seems to be the number that provides closure for most people who cherish these sorts of compilations.

Among my criteria: I walked away with the feeling, Hey, that was really something, and, the picture was easy to see a second time around on DVD.

The list, in approximate order, last to first:

10. (tie) “Revolutionary Road” and “The Wrestler”: both feature excellent acting, by Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio as an unhappily married 1950s suburban couple in the unsettling former, and by Mickey Rourke for his raw portrayal of an over-the-hill pro wrestler in the gritty latter.

7. “The Visitor”: compelling, convincing slice-of-life, starting-over story with character actor Richard Jenkins embracing the role of a grieving, distant college professor who slowly re-enters the world after befriending the immigrant couple he finds living in his previously uninhabited rental. Poignant and encouraging.

6. “Tell No One”: Exciting, suspenseful French adaptation of American writer Harlen Coben’s mystery about a doctor who starts receiving e-mails with photos of his wife – who ostensibly was murdered years ago. Solid story and performances.

5. “Wall-E”: Pixar’s animated magic continues with this charmer that recalls some of the best comedies from the silent era. Hard not to fall for the lonely but creative little robot who compacts trash on a deserted Earth, then falls for a pristine but volatile visiting probe robot. Rendered with humor, sensitivity and loads of personality.

4. “Frost/Nixon”: Fine translation of the play based on the David Frost TV interviews with former president Richard Nixon in the ’70s, with Frank Langella superb as the ex prez. Rich performances, strong writing and direction (by Ron Howard) and insightful story.

3. “Slumdog Millionaire”: Wonderfully layered Dickensian saga about a young Indian man arrested and interrogated by police the day before he’s scheduled to go for the top prize in his country’s biggest quiz show. Director Danny Boyle parades him, and us, via unobtrusive flashbacks, through the violence and grime of the slums where he and his estranged brother grew up, fending for themselves.

The pictures provide a bleak yet colorful – in that Dickensian way – background to the tale of the young man’s enduring love for his childhood sweetheart. A powerful, sweeping saga enhanced by appealing performances by the actors who play the leads as children, teens and adults. And with a Bollywood musical production number on top of everything else.

2. “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”: Woody Allen’s best film in years is a charming meditation on love and what makes it stay, on changing and unchanging relationships, on men and women and life in general. Javier Bardem as a passionate painter and Scarlett Johansson, Rebecca Hall and, especially, Penelope Cruz as the women in his life are perfectly cast and, in their bumbling, fumbling, sexy ways, endearing. Fine writing and direction. A gem.

1. “Milk”: Sean Penn finally shows a tender side, allowing a host of emotions to eke through his portrayal of Harvey Milk, the country’s first openly gay man elected to a major political office, that of San Francisco supervisor in the late ’70s.

Director Gus Van Sant complements Penn’s Oscar-caliber performance with a coterie of heavy hitters, including Emile Hirsch, almost unrecognizable as the street hustler who becomes Milk’s trusted political adviser, James Franco as Milk’s lover and Josh Brolin as Dan White, the SF supervisor who Mayor George Moscone and Milk. Brolin’s earned a deserved Oscar Buzz in the supporting category.

Dustin Lance Black’s impressive screenplay paints Milk as a complex, kind-hearted and committed man who found himself in the right place – what became the Castro District – at what he helped make the right time. “Milk” paints a colorful and realistic portrait of SF in the ’70s and does a very good job blending old news footage of rallies and S.F. with its insightful, touching and spirited narrative.